Effects of conservation tillage on soil porosity in maize-wheat cropping system

Abstract

A study was conducted on the effect of two single practices, including soil tillage and returning straw to soil, and their interaction on soil porosity of maize-wheat cropping system. Field experiments involved four tillage practices, including conventional tillage (C), zero-tillage (Z), harrow-tillage (H) and subsoil-tillage (S), with straw absent (A) or straw present (P). Total porosity, capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity of soil were investigated. The results showed that the soil total porosity of 0-10 soil layer was mostly affected; conventional tillage can increase the capillary porosity of soil, but the non-capillary porosity of S was the highest. Returning of straw can increase the porosity of soil. Through the analysis of affecting force, it can be concluded that interaction of soil tillage and straw is the most important factor to soil porosity, while the controlling factor to non-capillary porosity was soil tillage treatment.

Effects of different tillage system on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal propagules and physical properties in a Mediterranean agroecosystem in central Chile

“…Porosity and WHC showed similar values in both soil depths, and were closely related to r b , as previously reported in the same soil and in a Cambisol from China (Tangyuan et al, 2009). In general, it is widely accepted that conservation practices such as NT increase f due to the contribution of organic carbon (Lugato et al, 2009).…”

Effects of pine wilt disease invasion on soil properties and Masson pine forest communities in the Three Gorges reservoir region, China

“…2006; Tangyuan et al. 2009). This factor is the most critical determinant of the movement of water into the soil and is closely related to soil aeration and water permeability (Diaz and Nortcliff 1985; Berger and Hager 2000).…”

“…Soil porosity, including capillary porosity (pore size < 0.1 mm) and noncapillary porosity (pore size ≥ 0.1 mm), refers to the amount of soil pores that can be filled by water or air and is closely related to soil physical behavior and root penetration (Pagliai and Vignozzi 2002;Sasal et al 2006;Tangyuan et al 2009). This factor is the most critical determinant of the movement of water into the soil and is closely related to soil aeration and water permeability (Diaz and Nortcliff 1985;Berger and Hager 2000).…”

Impact of different tillage management on soil and grain quality in the Anatolian paddy rice production

“…In addition to these findings, the N tot values were found to be higher for the RT1 method with lower BD and higher TPO at statistically significant levels in both years respectively as 0.13% and 0.14%. Even though it is reported in similar studies that traditional tillage applications may generally have adverse impacts on TPO (Tangyuan et al 2009), it is put forth that N tot changes may result in different reactions in the Mediterranean climate belt according to climate and crop requirements in addition to soil structure (Ozpinar 2006). Contrary to high compaction indicators (BD and TPO) determined in the CT, the C org values in this method were found to be numerically lower in comparison with other methods.…”